‘The sooner the better’: K-State AD expects a decision from Bill Snyder this week

Kansas State football fans won’t have to wait much longer for Bill Snyder to make a decision about his coaching future.

K-State athletic director Gene Taylor told the Eagle on Monday that the matter will be settled at some point this week, potentially as early as Wednesday when they next plan to meet.

“I would expect something this week, one way or the other,” Taylor said. “The sooner the better.”

That means Snyder will have to speed up his decision-making process compared to previous years. In the past, he waited until after the Wildcats played their bowl game and leisurely addressed his future in late December or early January. But he doesn’t have that luxury coming off a disappointing 5-7 season.

Snyder likes to consult with his family, his players, his bosses and then assess his own health whenever the retirement question comes up. At the age of 79, and after 27 years on the job, he takes this stuff seriously. Taylor said Snyder will still go through his checklist, and is currently in the process of doing so. He will simply finish it with greater speed this time around.

They both want it that way.

“For a lot of reasons, primarily the recruits,” Taylor said. “I think our recruits want to know. Our coaches want to know, as well. I think Coach wants to make that decision sooner rather than later, too, because of those reasons. We have got committed guys, guys that are waiting to commit and signing day coming up.”

There’s one more potential factor involved, too.

“If there is a different decision than him coming back,” Taylor said, “we need to start moving forward in that process.”

Kansas and North Carolina have already fired their football coaches and replaced them. Colorado, Louisville and Texas Tech are all currently open. K-State will be playing catch up to all those schools, and possibly more, if Snyder opts for retirement.

Snyder signed a new five-year contract in August that raised his salary to $3.2 million and his buyout to $3 million. At the time, Taylor hoped it would provide extra stability for K-State’s iconic football coach, who was hoping to shake his year-to-year persona. But a losing season has left Snyder’s future more uncertain than ever.

K-State finished the regular season with a losing record under Snyder for the first time since 2005, the year he initially decided to retire, and missed a bowl for the first time since 2009.

Retirement speculation is at an all-time high within the fan base. Some have wondered if Snyder might be in danger of being forced out, even if he decides to postpone retirement another year.

For now, though, Taylor is leaving the choice to his Hall of Fame coach, who has won 215 games, been to 19 bowls, claimed two conference championships and turned a once-moribund program into a consistent winner since arriving at K-State in 1989.

“He deserves a lot of leeway in this decision, based on what he has done and what he means to the program,” Taylor said. “At the end of the day, it is myself and president (Richard) Myers (making the decision). We need to decide what is best for our football program. If it is him staying, then great. If it’s not, then we will have to work through that. But he gets a lot of leeway. I think people lose sight of that and forget what all he does. Right, wrong or indifferent, even if people disagree with it, I think he deserves a lot of leeway in this process.”

Snyder and Taylor have only spoken for about 30 minutes since K-State’s season ended with a 42-38 loss at Iowa State on Saturday.

At the time, Snyder said retirement was “the last thing on my mind right now.”

Snyder flew home to Manhattan immediately after the game. Taylor drove home with family the following day. They laid out their plans for the rest of the week during a meeting on Monday. They will both be out of town on Tuesday and hope to review the season together on Wednesday. That conversation will naturally lead into the topic of Snyder’s future. They will go from there.

For the time being, K-State assistants will hit the road and try to add new players to a recruiting class that currently features just eight commitments, the second-lowest number of any power-conference team.

Taylor doesn’t know what to expect, so the Wildcats are covering all their bases.

“He needs to go play poker for a living, because I don’t know what he is thinking,” Taylor said. “There were times this year I thought he was leaning one way and then the other. He hasn’t given me any indication.”

Still, Taylor is prepared for a coaching search. He has to be.

“I always knew, from the day I got here, how long Coach was going to coach was part of the process,” Taylor said. “It’s a big part of the job. . . .. Last year, I had my list (of potential replacements). I wasn’t sure how Coach would make it through the year with his health concerns and sure enough some of those guys got taken. So you scratch their names off your list, then you add some new ones on.”

“In your mind, you walk yourself through the process. How am I going to handle it? How fast am I going to react? Who is going to be involved? Who am I going to reach out to? How quickly am I going to get out on the road? And am I going to go somewhere and talk to people? I have a really solid plan in my mind. It’s not on the forefront all the time, but it is always in the back of your mind.”

Taylor will know soon enough if he needs to put his plan into action.

This story was originally published November 26, 2018 at 7:55 PM.